


Hiding In Plain Sight

by Dopredo



Series: Skills and Shadows [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Adorable FitzSimmons (Agents of SHIELD), Alternate Universe, Angst, Cute Kids, Drama, F/M, FitzSimmons - Freeform, Hive, Inhuman Powers, Original Character(s), Quinjet, Romance, Secrets, Sweet, cute fitz, fitzsimmons with children
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-28 01:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17173532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dopredo/pseuds/Dopredo
Summary: In the wreckage left by Hive, FitzSimmons harbour two young inhumans in SHIELD headquarters, and must find a way to keep their secret.





	Hiding In Plain Sight

**Author's Note:**

> This would probably make more sense if read after 'A New Era'. This is cannon divergence assuming Hive succeeded in his mission to take over the world (SHIELD only managed to stop him after a lot of damage had already been done).

‘Fitz?’

Jemma’s vision began to clear, leaving her just able to make out the hazy silhouette of Fitz standing in front of her. She reached out to touch him, scared she would feel the excruciating burn that had haunted their last touch, but felt nothing but the tender warmth of his familiar skin.

‘Oh God Jemma,’ Fitz croaked, pulling her into an embrace, ‘I can’t believe we’re still alive… How did that happen?’

Jemma looked up at him, and her eyes sparkled.

‘I’m not sure Fitz, I have no idea… I would try and come up with a scientific explanation – I’m sure I will later – but for now… for now I’m just glad we are…’

Fitz smiled, and kissed her on the cheek.

‘Yeah… For once, maybe the universe has decided we are meant to be together…’

 

****************************************************************************

 

2 WEEKS LATER

‘Okay crew, let’s sort this out.’ 

Zephyr One grounded slowly to a halt, as it touched down in Cambridge. Coulson was standing in front of his team, preparing them for the next mission; this was the fifth city in three days, and he could tell everyone was exhausted. Hive had left a catastrophe behind him, and they needed all hands on deck to clear it up.

‘Alright… Once we’re ready, May and I are going to head into the centre of town to meet the Cambridge Head of the CIA. Daisy and Mack, I need you in the town centre. Cambridge has on of the highest rates of looting, and it’s seriously understaffed.’

Daisy and Mack nodded, and started gathering the equipment they needed. Fitz and Simmons glanced at each other confusedly.

‘What do you want us to do, Sir?’

Coulson looked at Simmons and smiled.

‘Ah sorry, I forgot to say, you’re on people duty.’

Simmons looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

‘What does that involve?’

‘Well… People are scared, and a lot of people are injured from the inhuman rampage… Just try and help people in any way you can.’

‘Okay, thank you Sir.’

********************************************************************************

Outside, the city was a mess. Dismal noises, such as the contorted shrieks of babies and the distant droning of alarms, filled the outlandish, eerie silence. The wind, heavy with the filthy stench of burning and rotted flesh, seemed to carry with it a silent message of hopelessness.  
The group of SHIELD agents lowered their heads in unanimous pain. They couldn’t help but blame themselves for not having stopped Hive earlier. That way, no one would have gained inhuman powers, and this mess would never have existed. 

FitzSimmons separated from the group and began to travel further into the town centre, where the damage was even greater. Bodies were strewn about, and the few houses still standing had large holes blown threw them.

‘Oh God Jemma, where do we start?’

Simmons looked at him, her eyes watering slightly.

‘Oh Fitz, I don’t know… I had no idea the damage would be so bad here.’

‘I know… I can barely look. It’s as though---- Jemma, can you hear that?’

‘Hear what?’

They both stood listening for a second, and then the voice became clear.

‘Help… Help me…’

‘Oh god, Jemma, it sounds like---’

‘--- A child. Come on!’

They ran in the direction of the voice, until they reached the remains of a small house. Inside, thick ropes of ivy grey up the walls, and mould covered every faint trace of damp on the grimy surfaces. 

‘Hello, is anyone there?’ Fitz called. He received his response in splutters of tears.

‘Hel… hello I…. we’re in he…he…re’

Fitz ran towards the voice, which had seemingly come from the centre of the house. Inside the room (which looked like it had once been a sitting room) were two young girls. The oldest, who’s voice they had heard, looked about 11, and sat over her younger sister who lay, exhausted, on the floor. Fitz approached them carefully, and placed himself on the ground next to the older child. He spoke gently.

‘Hello, I’m Fitz. I heard you call for help… Do you think you can tell me your name?’

At this point Simmons arrived at the doorway. She smiled at the girl and approached similarly. The girl’s eyes widened and she hugged her knees. Fitz put his finger to his lips and Simmons nodded; the girl was probably in shock.  
Although all of the inhuman powers had been wiped away after Hive had been defeated, it would have to of been quite scary to go through Terrigenesis at such a young age, especially if she had seen the people she cared about get hurt (Simmons thought this was probably quite likely considering the children’s parents were nowhere to be seen).

The girl opened her mouth to speak, but at first it only came out in a whisper.

‘I’m… Deema,’ she pointed at the younger girl ‘and that’s Cassie.’

‘Hello Deema,’ Simmons smiled, ‘I’m Jemma… Can you tell me what happened to you and your sister?’

Deema bit her lip and started rocking backwards and forwards. Fitz smiled at her again.

‘Don’t worry, there’s no rush. Would you be ok with Jemma taking a look at your sister? She’s a doctor and I think your sister may need a bit of help.’

Deema nodded and pushed herself out of the way, leaving enough space for Simmons to squeeze herself into. She placed her hand on the younger girl’s forehead, furrowed her eyebrows and walked over to the other side of the room, beckoning for Fitz to join her.

‘She has an extremely high temperature,’ Simmons whispered, worriedly, ‘I think she may have gotten ill from the water or the food- if they’ve tried to survive in here they would have had to have drunk from the tap at some point.’

‘Yeah that water was disgusting. It could have carried all sorts of diseases through the mould…’

‘Fitz, we have to move them.’

Fitz scratched the back of his head and sighed.

‘I’m not sure they’ll come with us, Jemma… The older girl seems very scared, and very protective of her sister.’

Jemma bit her lip and looked up at Fitz.

‘But she does seem to listen to you… Perhaps you could persuade her. Failing that, we may have to take them anyway. We can’t exactly leave them here. I’ll phone Coulson, you talk to Deema.’

Simmons turned around and walked into the next room.

‘Hang on---’ Fitz shook his head and sighed to himself, realising there was no point arguing with her, ‘oh who am I kidding, she’s always been the boss…’

********************************************************************************

After half an hour of frustration and hushed voices, FitzSimmons managed to persuade Deema to let her and Cassie be taken to the Zephyr for protection. On arrival, Cassie was quickly taken to the medical room with Simmons, while Fitz stayed with Deema. Although she was worried, after about half and hour she fell asleep from pure exhaustion, leaving Fitz to dwell in the silence of the Zephyr. He hoped that Cassie was okay, and that he and Simmons would be able to find their parents, but a part of him worried that they no longer had any parents to find.

Eventually, the rest of the team arrived back at the Zephyr. Everyone was united in both mental and physical exhaustion, but that didn’t put on hold the questions about the 11 year old child asleep in Fitz’s arms. Fitz put his finger to his lips as the team boarded the Zephyr, but beckoned for them to approach him. As usual, Daisy was the first to ask questions.

‘Who is she?’ Daisy whispered, tiptoeing around Deema and slumping down next to Fitz.

‘I’m not totally sure,’ Fitz muttered ‘we found Deema and her sister in an abandoned house in the town centre.’

‘Wait, there’s another one?’ Daisy choked, ‘we can’t look after two kids! We can barely look after ourselves!’

‘Shhh!’ Fitz scowled, ‘you’re going to wake her…’ Fitz lowered his voice even further, ‘besides, we couldn’t exactly leave them there, considering Cassie’s condition…’

‘Condition?’ Daisy looked worried.

‘She’s exhausted and had a temperature. We think it may be something to do with going through Terrigenesis at such a young age…’ Fitz scratched the back of his head and sighed. ‘Perhaps it affected her in a different way to the other inhumans…’

‘Hive. If he wasn’t already dead I would kill him! I would never have contemplated the damage until I saw it.’

Suddenly Deema stirred and her eyes began to open. Fitz gave Daisy a disapproving look, and she shrugged in response.

‘I was talking quietly.’

Fitz lent down, and helped Deema to sit up.

‘How are you feeling?’ He smiled, warmly.

‘I’m ok, thank you, Mr Fitz… Is my sister ok?’ Deema looked up at him hopefully, and Fitz returned with a half smile.

‘I’m not sure yet, but I’m sure she’ll be alright, we’ve got our best people working on it… and you can just call me Fitz if you want. We’re not particularly formal around here.’  
She nodded assuredly, and then furrowed her eyebrows, as though she wanted to ask a question. Daisy excused herself and went to join May in the piloting box.

‘Um, Fitz… Can I ask you a question?’

‘Yeah, of course.’

‘Do you think you can find my parents?’

Fitz scratched his head for a second, and then nodded slowly, as if having made a decision.

‘Deema, I don’t know where your parents are but, I promise you that I am going to find your parents for you, even if it takes me the rest of my life. Okay? So don’t you worry.’

‘Thank you Fitz… Thank you so much.’

Deema buried herself in Fitz’s jacket, tears streaming down her face.

‘It’s okay… Just always remember that I’m here to protect you…’

‘Always and forever?’

‘Yeah,’ Fitz smiled, ‘that.’


End file.
